Up until recently my Mac Plus was booting 6.08 hitch free from a 40mb SCSI HDD (I say up until recently because the PSU failed last week). To set it up I copied the System 6 setup files off a G3 Powermac onto an 800k floppy and then booted it on the Plus (and copied the disk's contents onto the HDD). You can use any mac with a floppy drive to format the floppy disk for the plus - just make sure you select 800k when initializing. You can download the older mac system software here (http://lowendmac.com/macos.shtml).
I would recommend buying a mouse off the source Lloyd suggested, and also getting an external SCSI HDD (be careful which one, a lot dont work on the plus). Having a hard drive to bootstrap is a huge convenience, and saves you the endless ballet of floppy swapping. You can even copy the system files onto the HDD straight from any mac with a SCSI port if it suits (make sure you format HFS Standard, not HFS+, that trick caused me a lot of hassle at one point). I wouldn't recommend using OS7 on a Plus - it's slow as molasses and uses copious amounts of memory - whereas System 6 can run with bare minimum memory and handle most programs that work on the Plus. Stay with the plus though - they're nifty little machines and don't take up too much space on your desk. They're also relatively easy to integrate into your mac network, on account of their proper serial ports and SCSI bus. Good Luck! -Nic On Apr 1, 1:24 am, Lloyd Gold <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Jay T, > > There is no way (at least that I am aware of) to boot from the ROMs in the > machine to a desktop GUI. Although the computer will, if I am remembering > that far back correctly, actually run with up to system 7.5.5 (again, from > memory) I would recommend actually using a 6.0.3 or higher (probably > 6.0.8). If, again, I am remembering anything correctly from back in that > day you would really need a hard drive to boot the system 7.x, anyway. > > If there is one thing that I will never forget about the Macintosh computers > from back in the day it is that if you are trying to boot from one floppy > and run a program from another AND you have only one floppy drive you are in > for a sure fire treat of floppy swap heaven. Prepare yourself for > excitement like you have never experienced before! > > I would be sure to upgrade the computer to the maximum 4MB or RAM if it is > only at the 1MB standard which was sold. There are four slots for the > 30-pin SIMM RAM in those and the machine generally came with four 256K > populated. Those machines will only work if all slots are filled so you > cannot put a single stick of RAM into the thing and expect it to power on, > correctly. It has been a while since I shopped for that memory but I would > bet you can still find it out there on the web. > > You mentioned that you are looking for a mouse. I do know that there has > been a seller on eBay for a while, now, with a whole bunch of brand new of > the Macintosh mice with the DB-9 connectors. The seller's name is "jmorand" > and, currently, the mice are listed under item number 380186630773. I am > not making any comment on the seller's integrity or trustworthiness, nor on > the product as he describes it, I just remember that I had seen that a > couple of months ago and wanted make you aware of that possible option. > > Good luck with the vintage machine. They are a treat to work with, > especially when compared with the quality of workmanship and design of many > of the 'modern' machines. > > Many 'happy Macs'! > > Lloyd > > On Wed, Mar 31, 2010 at 8:03 AM, Jay T <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hey there! I'm new to this list. I have a Mac Plus that powers up > > and asks for a system disk. So, I want to get this baby working. I > > know it can run System 7 and back, but I don't know what its got > > inside. How do I go about getting this Mac running again? Do I have > > to take it apart to see whats in there or is there a way to boot the > > machine from ROMs? I'm pretty much a newbie to the oldies. I have > > lots of experience with new world macs from '98 on but don't know > > diddly about the earlier ones. I do know that I am really excited > > about getting this thing working again. Also, I need an original > > mouse - I only have the keyboard. > > > Thanks! > > > Jay T > > St. Petersburg, FL > > > -- > > ----- > > You received this message because you are a member of the Vintage Macs > > group. > > The list FAQ is athttp://lowendmac.com/lists/vintagemacs.shtmland our > > netiquette guide is athttp://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > > To leave this group, send email to > > [email protected]<vintage-macs%[email protected]> > > For more options, visit this group at > >http://groups.google.com/group/vintage-macs > > > Support for older Macs:http://lowendmac.com/services/ > > > To unsubscribe, reply using "remove me" as the subject. -- ----- You received this message because you are a member of the Vintage Macs group. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/vintagemacs.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To leave this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/vintage-macs Support for older Macs: http://lowendmac.com/services/
